Behind the mirrors
by PrincessMPA
Summary: An old legend, much older than the original vampires, speaks of prison behind the mirrors. A prison from which there is no escape. (Elijah x Elena, Caroline x Klaus)


An old legend, much older than the original vampires, speaks of prison behind the mirrors. A prison from which there is no escape. (Elijah x Elena, Caroline x Klaus)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Caroline? Damn it, Caroline, where are you?" Elena pulled her cell phone out of her jacket pocket and dialed her best friend's number. She heard the phone vibrate upstairs. Within a second the doppelganger was standing in her friend's room, but Caroline was nowhere to be seen. "Care?", called the brunette, again and again, she got no answer. Blimey! All this can't be true, the young vampire thought. Elena dropped onto the bed and stared at the ceiling for a while. The stars they had stuck to the ceiling at the age of seven were still stuck there and they were still shining. A wistful smile stepped on her face as she thought of her childhood memories that seemed a life far away. It was just a short digression into the past because reality caught up with Elena faster than she liked. Caroline's cell phone was lying on her bedside table, the coffee machine was on and everywhere in the house it smelled of fresh coffee. Her best friend must have been alone for the last few days because there was no other smell in the air. She seemed to have left the house head over heels. The question Elena asked herself was, why? The brunette was sure they had an appointment for breakfast today. The rolls lay carelessly on the kitchen counter and the table was half set. None of this made any sense. Something must have happened. An eerie feeling crept the doppelganger. She shivered and rubbed her arms unconsciously. Katherine was dead, Silas as well, the other side had fallen and everything had been normal in the last months. As normal as it can be when you are a vampire yourself and come out of a difficult relationship. The brunette's thoughts went to Damon, who still couldn't cope with the separation very well, especially as he also had to cope with his brother's death. The bad conscience caught up with Elena and hit her unprepared and with full force. She had left him three months after Stefan's death. She still felt terrible. But that didn't change the fact that she didn't love him anymore. _"What do you want to do? Stay with him forever. You must lead your own life and he must get over it,"_ Caroline's voice sounded in her head.

"Where the hell are you?" Elena asked into the silence and then came up again. Damon had left and she hadn't heard from him yet. Bonnie was still on her world trip. She had not coped with Enzo's loss to this day. Caroline, Jeremy, Alaric and they were the only ones left in Mystic Falls. The blonde would never have left without a word of farewell, so something must have happened. It was the only logical conclusion. The question was just what? All their enemies were defeated. There was no one to hurt them. They had been living in peace for 9 months. Their thoughts went round in circles, Elena thought and ran through her best friend's room. "Caroline?", her voice resounded loudly in the empty single-family house again. Somewhere there had to be a clue to the whereabouts of her best friend. Elena left her room, went down the wooden stairs and stood in the hallway again. They smiled at familiar faces from old photos. Faces of which most had long since died. It was an oppressive feeling to be alone here and to hang out with the past.

Caroline's jackets and shoes were still in place. Slowly, so that nothing escaped her, the brunette ran through the lower floor. In the living room, there was a half-full whiskey bottle on the glass table in front of the couch, various magazines were next to it. The TV was switched off and not warm anymore. The plants were watered a few hours ago. Again Elena took in deep air, but again she couldn't detect any other smell except Carolines and her own. Impatiently, Elena drummed her fingertips against the wall. What had happened here? Why wasn't Caroline at the agreed place at the agreed time? Her best friend was always on time. The brunette left the living room and went into the kitchen. Everything seemed to be normal. Frustrated, the brunette expelled air. "That can't be true," she sat down at the table and grabbed a croissant. Maybe Caroline would show up in the next few minutes, the doppelganger thought as she smeared nut nougat cream on her croissant.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A groan escaped her mouth and her hand found her head booming as if someone had been working it with a baseball bat. What had happened? Caroline opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling, which reminded her very much of her room with the light stars, but that couldn't be because the one in her room wasn't dark grey. "Hello," she asked quietly and pointed her ears, but she couldn't hear a sound. Her mouth was dust-dry. The blonde sat up, aggravating the headache and taking her sight for a moment. Caroline closed her eyes and waited until the pain was bearable. It seemed that hours would pass before she could open her eyes again. Her head was still booming, but it was bearable, or at least not so bad anymore, that she almost went insane. The young vampire looked around. She was still in her room, but everything was in different shades of grey. How the hell did that happen? Caroline stood up and looked around. This was her room, but all her personal belongings had disappeared. It looked as if no one had ever lived in the room. "Hello," she shouted again. "Is anyone there?". No answer. Of course not, why should anyone answer too, she thought cynically. The blonde tried to reconstruct the morning. She had got up shortly after eight o'clock, fetched rolls and croissants, set the table and made coffee and then? She rubbed herself over her face with both hands. It was hard for her to concentrate and her memories were blurred.

Then it rang at the front door. She was surprised because Elena was usually a little later than before. Her best friend had almost half an hour left at that time. She went to the front door and then? Why was her memory fragmentary? Caroline opened her room door, but everything in the hallway, kitchen and living room was shaded grey. White. Black. Grey. That was all Caroline saw. The blonde panicked accelerated her steps and wanted to run out of the house, but the front door could not be opened. With all the strength she could muster, Caroline hit the door, but nothing happened. She was a prisoner in her own house. "Calm Care, very calm," she reminded herself and continued to look for memories in her head. It had rung, she had already been that far. Caroline was sure that she went to the door and nobody stood in front of it. No one had been seen far and wide. A small package caught her eye as she was about to go back in. It had her name on it and it was his handwriting. Caroline's dead heart would have stopped if it could. She hadn't heard from Klaus for years. Of course, she took the parcel with her into the house, brought it into her room and opened it.

"The mirror," whispered the blonde, hurrying up the stairs. She pushed open the door to her room and her gaze fell on the large mirror standing next to her bed. That couldn't be true, could it? Slowly she walked towards the mirror. She saw her room as it should look with all her personal things and in color. And she saw Elena reaching for the small golden hand mirror. "No," breathed the blonde. If her best friend touched the mirror image, she would also end up here. "Elena," Caroline screamed in panic, striking the mirror that stood like a wall between her and the real world.

"Care," she heard the brunette ask. Elena looked up and looked around, but apparently, she couldn't make out her best friend anywhere. The blonde watched the doppelganger reach for the mirror again.

"Don't touch!" Caroline screamed and hammered again against the glass of the mirror that didn't want to jump.

Elena held the mirror in her left hand. "Caroline, that's not funny," called the brunette and Care wished so much that it was a joke.

"Elena," she said again in a loud voice and the brunettes' gaze fell on the large mirror in Caroline's room.

"Care," the doppelganger carefully stretched out her hand towards the glass. Her hand touched the cool glass that stood like a wall between her best friend and herself. "How did that happen?" she asked breathlessly, the cursed golden mirror still in her hand.

"I touched the glass of the mirror," Caroline confessed and put her head on her neck. "I am trapped in this house and I have no idea how all this is possible at all," desperation resonated in her voice. She cursed herself for her stupidity and she cursed Klaus. What the hell did he mean by that?

"Elena took a closer look at the beautiful hand mirror, which had to be worth thousands of dollars. It was heavy and seemed to be made entirely of gold. The back was decorated with a peacock, blue and pink gems were worked in. It had to be old because the reflecting surface could not be compared to today's surface. She looked into the mirror and saw her image only blurred. "The doppelganger finished her sentence after some time. ( /images/I/51iykkD3pRL._AA300_.jpg)

"Klaus." hummed Caroline and Elena looked up. Oh, if she got her hands on that son of a bitch, she thought angrily and clenched her hands to fists. He could get hurt. She would give him hell.

"Klaus?" she repeated questioningly and the blonde nodded grimly. A questioning expression had fallen on the brunette's face.

"Behind the desk," Care confessed quietly and had to admit that she had been very happy about a sign of life from him. Caroline watched her best friend walk through the room, fishing out the small red cardboard box with the cream bow behind the desk bearing Caroline's name. Elena opened it but found only a folded message. The paper had the same color as the bow.

"That's all," she asked disappointedly.

"What did you expect? A manual," mocked Caroline, "I'm sorry," she said not a second later. "I'm confused and I want to get out of here".

"May I?" asked the brunette and pointed to the folded piece of paper.

Caroline just shrugged her shoulders. "He writes he misses me, that's all," she said, but still Elena unfolded the sheet of paper. "I miss you," was written on it in clean handwriting.

"Elena pulled out Caroline's desk chair and sat down on it. It remained quiet for a while. "We'll have to pay Klaus a visit, for better or for worse," she dropped her head on her hands and breathed deeply a few times. "I'll get you out," she promised and the blonde had the feeling that Elena would rather talk to herself.

"You mean you have to pay Klaus a visit. I can't leave this house," Caroline reminded her best friend of the obvious. Elena looked into emptiness for seconds, then she rose and grabbed the mirror.

"Why do you think it is a hand mirror," asked the brunette.

Caroline shrugged her shoulders. "I have no idea", what was Elena up to?

The doppelganger walked towards Caroline with the golden mirror, then she turned the reflecting surface of her best friend. There was no noise, it didn't flash and everything else seemed to be normal, but Caroline had disappeared from the big mirror. "I thought to myself," sounded Elena's voice.

"What did you do?" Caroline asked almost panicked.

"I'll take you with me," said the brunette and lifted the mirror to her face. Caroline stared right into her best friend's face.

"That...", the blonde broke off. That was a little too much for one day. "Can you explain to me why we never have our peace?" Caroline asked instead.

"Sometimes I think it just shouldn't be," Elena breathed deeply. "Can you tell me where I can find Klaus?" she asked then.

"Don't you have any more contact with Elijah", Caroline was astonished.

"Why should I?" the brunette tried to make her voice sound as normal as possible and seems to have succeeded. Maybe the blonde was just distracted. Caroline always saw through everyone else.

"In New Orleans," Care said and her stomach was about to turn.

"I had speculated on a somewhat more precise geographical indication," she heard Elena say, then rustling paper and Caroline was getting dark.

"What are you doing," the blonde asked in an unnaturally high voice.

"I pack the mirror. We don't want you to break," Caroline could hear the doppelganger smile sadly. "So you don't know where he lives?" she asked again.

Caroline shook her head. It took a few seconds before she realized that Elena couldn't see that. "No," she finally said, and she had to admit herself that she sounded despondent.

"I'll find him, somehow," Elena added quietly and put the little parcel in her handbag. She dug into Caroline's desk drawer looking for her best friend's car keys. It wasn't long before she found what she was looking for. She would call Alaric from the car and she had to think of something to tell him. The truth turned out, the brunette decided. Elena would not endanger Alaric or Jeremy. She didn't know what to expect in New Orleans. She didn't know why Klaus did what he had done, but it couldn't mean anything good. This man had never brought them anything good. Elena strapped on her bag in the passenger seat, sat down in the car and drove off.


End file.
